FBI to Allow Companies to Reveal When They Receive National Security Letters

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Companies like Google and Microsoft have long expressed frustration with the inability to disclose when they’ve received a secretive compliance order from the FBI seeking records.

Under a new FBI policy, companies will be able to disclose the “national security letters,” but only “at the earlier of three years after the opening of a fully predicated investigation or the investigation’s close,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

Until now, the FBI has been able to obtain telephone, banking and Internet company records without a court order, and the company was legally prevented from disclosing bureau’s order.

The changes are part of President Obama’s call to reform surveillance practices and data collection.

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